Morphin' Guardians - Silver Beginning
by Skyven
Summary: AU - There are many more Ranger teams in the Universe than one'd think. And an unexpected chain of events leads to the formation of a new one.


_**Author's Note: ** - AU story.  
__It's been about 4-5 years since I first started writing this idea, and it had been on a dare. Ever since, I had gone on, finished the first of the three stories in the series, and even started working on an (unrelated) original sci-fi thriller. Not to mention a whole lot of real life got in the way. Coming back to this story, I decided to rewrite it. Looking back, I realized how rushed it was, and I'd dare to think I've improved a bit in all these years of writing. If anything, I've found a style of writing I was comfortable with. I'm going to attempt to re-release every week a chapter of this story, rewritten._

I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Looking forward to any constructive criticism. 

**Chapter 1 – Down The Rabbit's Hole**

It was a warm Californian day in Angel Grove and the vast majority of the students of Angel Grove High School had just left their classes to go on about their customary business as a young man walked across the now desert halls of ground floor of AGH towards the gym area. He was well built, wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked around the connecting halls as he approached the main staircase leading to the upper floor, obviously looking for someone.

At the bend of the corridor near the staircase another young man stood around tapping his foot impatiently, wearing a green sleeveless shirt and black pants, his backpack slung casually over his shoulder.

"Tommy! Hey!", the youth in red called, relieved, as he saw the other teen looking around with an air of boredness and waved a hand lightly.

"Hello Jason.", Tommy answered tersely, his eyes fixed intently on the young man in front of him.

"I'm sorry, just dropped by to let you know I can't sparr today. Urgent call from family.", Jason said apologetically, looking at Tommy.

"I see.", Tommy responded evenly.

"Are you up for a reschedule? Tomorrow maybe?", Jason suggested, wondering quietly why the other teen was so tense.

"Fine with me."

" I'll see you tomorrow then."

With that Jason turned his back on Tommy, not noticing a small tinge of emerald green flashing in his eyes and a circle shaped object slipping into his hand: a coin. As he started to walk away, Tommy turned the coin towards Jason, a green light beam shooting out of it and Jason disappeared in a brief flash of green particles that shimmered into nothingness in a matter of seconds. Tommy returned the coin into his backpack, looking left and right along the adjacent corridors, then slinging the backpack back on his shoulder and walking towards the front exit like nothing happened.

* * *

At the same time, at the upper floor of Angel Grove High, another youth just left the computer labs with his black backpack slung casually over his left shoulder. He was 6" tall and muscular built, dressed in a grey sleeveless shirt, black pants and black sneakers with a grey trim to them, and with a far more serious expression on his face than one would expect of an 18-year old. His almost jet black hair was crew cut and only a very faint trace of stubble on his chin indicated the formation of a goatee. As he passed along the tight corridors of the labs, the scant groups of people clustered around the upper floor lockers turned heads after him, some whispering to their mates while others just moving out of the way, but he didn't even raise his eyes to meet theirs in acknowledgement, lost in thought.

He silently walked across the hall towards the staircase to the lower floor, eager to finally leave the school premises behind for the day. As he approached the stairs, he heard two voices talking downstairs that shook him out of his thoughts, one of which was more than familiar while the other he could not say he ever heard until now. Grinning, he quickened his pace to approach the stairs. Slowly leaning over the railing of the stairs, he watched as the two youths separated, but, while the one in red turned his back and was about to leave, the other one got some kind of coin out of the bag and shot a green beam at him. The older youth pulled up the stairs without making a sound as the one in green around himself, then leaned slowly back to watch him leave.

- _What on Earth has just happened? -_ the young man asked himself as he stood by the stairs waiting for a few minutes to pass so he could head to the lower floor without suspicion. His mind was reeling in the shock inflicted by scene he just witnessed, and he tried frantically to look for an explanation for what happened.

But then, it just all clicked into place. By now everyone knew of the battle between the Power Rangers and the alien invaders from space, and most recently, of the appearance of another Ranger who was intent on helping the aliens conquer the planet: the Green Ranger. And he just witnessed who the Green Ranger really was. He recognised the younger teen from a recent Karate Tournament in which his brother participated. Just one question remained to be answered.

- _What does the Green Ranger want with my younger brother? _-

With that thought in mind, Kevin Lee Scott descended the stairs in a hurry and walked towards the exit of AGH, concern mixed with fury deeply showing in his face and replacing the expression of surprise and shock he had just a moment ago. He decided he'd get to the bottom of the matter with Tommy in earnest.

* * *

Zack sat at the usual table the Rangers sat at while in the Youth Centre. He was looking around himself, waiting for Jason to show up, showing a forced smile at acquaintances that passed. An empty glass stood on the table in front of him, and he drummed his fingers onto the table to a beat in his head. While his acquaintances would think he was his usual easygoing self, a further look at him would show that he was recently a bit fatigued and worried. It was expected, since this young black teen was the Black Power Ranger, and recently in that role he had his hands full with the new Ranger on the block, an evil one on top of that. With the communication with Zordon disrupted and the Command Center in a disarray, the Rangers had to use everything they had left at their disposal to both get Zordon back and keep Rita and the Green Ranger at bay.

Looking at his left, he saw Trini and Billy enter the Youth Centre, discussing something on their way to the table.

"Hey Billy, hey Trini.", he greeted the two, his features assuming the first genuine smile of the day.

"Salutations Zack", Billy replied, with a faint smile, drawing a bar stool closer and plopping onto it with exhaustion. The resident genius had pulled an overnighter, working to stabilize the teleportation system and helping purge Alpha 5 of the last vestiges of the viral code slipped into him by the Green Ranger.

"Hey Zack, what's going on?", Trini returned the greeting as she pulled up a chair as well and dropped her backpack under the table, for a change not bothering to pull her notebooks out.

"Nothing, just waiting on Jason and Kimberly to show up. Between our class assignments and the you-know-who, I don't know anymore what's worse.", Zack commented bitterly, tapping his fingers on the empty soda glass in front of him.

" I know what you mean. I've seen Kimberly on my way out from school and she told me she'd meet with Jason in front of the High School after she dropped her books home." Trini said with a drawn out sigh. The Yellow Ranger was worried about her friend: they had yet to find out the identity of the Green Ranger, and being separated left them potentially vulnerable.

" If I remember correctly, Jason had a scheduled meeting with Tommy prior to meeting us. They should be here soon enough." Billy pointed out, recalling the two teens talking the day prior: the newcomer had been giving all of them the cold shoulder aside Jason, with whom he seemed very keen to spar.

Zack looked unconvinced. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Kimberly was pacing in front of the Angel Grove High, where she agreed she'd meet with Jason as soon as he finished his sparring session with Tommy. She had gone to drop her school books home and then returned to the High School proper, figuring that by the time she'd done that, Jason would be done and waiting for her in front of the school gates. However that was not the case, and the more time passed, the more worried she became. Tommy had passed her by, rudely brushing aside her greeting as he made his way down across the street and out of her sight.

A minute later she saw Kevin march out of the front gate, halting to a stop and looking around himself carefully.

"Kevin! Hey!", Kimberly shouted, waving frantically to get the older teen's attention.

Kevin seemed jolted out of whatever he was trying to focus on then turned and walked over to Kimberly, returning her wave.

"Hey Kim! What can I do for you?", he asked politely and with a forced smile, his eyes darting almost nervously around.

" I wanted to ask you if you have seen Jason after class. I was supposed to meet him here.", Kimberly said hopefully, knowing that if anyone almost always knew where Jason was, it was Kevin. The three years older teen was always the one to watch over her and Jason when they were kids, and had quickly developed a penchant for knowing where they'd be.

Kevin pretended to ponder the question. Not because he didn't know where Jason was, but because he knew perfectly well what happened to him. He opted for the reasoning that it might not be in Kimberly's best interest to know what happened to Jason.

" No, I haven't seen him after class. Are you sure he hasn't just gone ahead and is waiting for you in the Youth Center?", the teen replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

" You know that's so unlike Jason. He would not stand up on someone like that without a notice.", Kimberly said with a frown. Something about the way Kevin acted unsettled her.

" Maybe he went there to work out with that new kid in your classes that I've heard so much about.", Kevin suggested tentatively, while his eyes went from Kimberly over to the direction where he saw Tommy go.

" Maybe you're right, Kevin. Thanks anyways.", Kimberly answered, sighing to herself. Maybe she was being just too worried after all. However, Tommy had just passed her by, and Jason was nowhere in sight.

" No problem, Kim. I'll see you later.", the older teen said with a smile as he reassuringly patted her back.

With that, Kimberly turned and left for the Youth Center, while Kevin started running in the direction in which he had seen Tommy go. He was pretty sure he'd find the teen in the park. If not, there'd be times where he could catch the younger man unaware.

* * *

He wasn't wrong in coming to the park. Kevin leaned into the shadow of a nearby tree, watching Tommy go through a familiar kata in the more secluded area of the park. The series of moves was familiar to him: it had been one he and his brother had often practiced. He bristled inside at the thought of confronting Tommy about Jason's disappearance and he was now just biding his time until he saw an opening in the kata the teen was performing.

As he saw Tommy start to turn his back on Kevin to execute a punch, Kevin sprung forward, catching Tommy's arm and wringing it behind. Tommy, caught by total surprise, couldn't do anything as his arm got twisted in a lock behind his back while at the same time he lost his footing to a sweep, unceremoniously falling face down into the grass. He felt a foot position itself on the back of his knee, applying just enough pressure to ensure he wouldn't move his legs without risking serious injury. All he could do was turn his head around to look at his attacker and was greeted by an older teen's blue eyes looking at him menacingly.

" What did you do to Jason?", Kevin asked harshly, his penetrating gaze passing over the downed teen and slowly applying pressure to his arm, leveraging it slowly to the breaking point.

" I don't know what you're talking about!", Tommy gritted between his teeth while he tried to move around to somehow ease the pain in his arm, but the more he moved, the more pressure was applied to his arm, sending jolts of pain through his limb as his nerves protested every move he made.

" Bullshit you don't!", Kevin growled at him, "I saw him disappearing out of the school corridor, and I bet that coin of yours has more tricks up its sleeve. Now spit it out or I am going to risk my good standing by sending you to the hospital, preferably in pieces!"

Tommy smirked more to himself than to Kevin. "Why would you like to know? What is the Red Ranger to you?"

Kevin stood dumbfounded for a moment. - _Red Ranger? Jason?_-, the thought echoed in his mind like a gunshot. Regaining his composture, Kevin lifted his foot off Tommy's knee and let go of his arm. Instead he quickly turned Tommy over to face him while laying down, then lifted him up abruptly by the hem of the shirt.

" If I find out even a scratch on Jason, you'll answer to me. And there won't be any amount of power to save you if I decide to pay you back for what you've done to my brother.", he threatened, then dropped the younger teen on the ground. " Remember I know who you are. **Green Ranger**. ", he growled, then turned around and started to leave.

Tommy shot him a mean glance while sitting up, rubbing his arm while feeling returned to his aching body. " You chose the wrong person to threaten!", he yelled after the young man leaving.

" It's not a threat.", Kevin replied in an ice cold voice, not bothering to look back at Tommy. " It's a promise."

* * *

Kevin strode quickly across the park grounds to a rocky outcropping by the lake, sat there and stared into the water for a moment, concerned thoughts crossing his mind as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His heart was still racing, but the initial unbidden urge to seriously harm the Ranger for kidnapping his brother waned with the lessening of the adrenaline in his bloodstream and was getting fast replaced by a sense of worry. Kevin did not know where the Green Ranger took his brother, nor in what condition Jason was, and he started dreading the worst. He berated himself for acting impulsively as he leveled his head onto his hands, elbows resting on his knees, and in vain he tried to tell himself that he won't let his emotions get the better of him ever again when Jason might pay the price for his error.


End file.
